Nano Letters· 2026Q1
Kinetically Arrested Interfacial Polyelectrolyte Complexes Enable Ionic Rectification in Ionoelastomer Heterojunctions
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- 2026year
Short summary
A kinetically arrested polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) layer forms at ionoelastomer interfaces, enabling ionic rectification by creating an unstained region far exceeding predicted depletion lengths.
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Key points
- Interfacial polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) in ionoelastomers form a kinetically arrested glassy layer.
- This interfacial PEC region is micron-scale, exceeding predicted ionic double layer depletion lengths.
- The glassy PEC state suppresses counterion exchange, as evidenced by selective staining.
- Forward bias, heat, or salt addition induce a reversible glass-to-rubber transition in the PEC.
- This transition enables ionic current rectification in ionoelastomer heterojunctions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract At interfaces between oppositely charged polyelectrolytes, ionic double layers (IDLs) emerge that are often treated as ionic counterparts of semiconductor depletion layers. Yet this analogy overlooks the molecular deformability of polymer-tethered charges. Here, we show that IDLs in soft ionoelastomer(IE) heterojunctions undergo interfacial complexation, resulting in the formation of a kinetically arrested polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) layer. Selective counterion-exchange staining with ionic fluorophores reveals a micron-scale unstained interfacial PEC region─far exceeding the depletion length predicted from thermodynamic considerations of IDLs. This exclusion arises from a kinetically frozen glassy PEC that suppresses counterion exchange with ionic fluorophores. Forward bias, elevated temperature, or salt addition reversibly drives a glass-to-rubber transition in the interfacial PEC, restoring fluorophore uptake, as confirmed by optical, mechanical, and impedance measurements. This transition produces asymmetric ionic conductivity, demonstrating that ionic current rectification in IE heterojunctions is governed by interfacial PEC formation and its kinetically arrested glassy state.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nano Letters, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Surfaces, Coatings and FilmsMaterials Science